


Menuet; also called a trio

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Getting Together, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-04-06 09:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19060357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: Boy meets girl.Famous prima donna meets boy.Young chorus girl meets famous prima donna.???





	Menuet; also called a trio

_1\. Boy meets girl_

Raoul de Chagny is what you might call a young thing when he meets Christine Daae. Christine Daae is what you might call a pretty young thing. She loses her red scarf. He fishes it out of the sea.

They spend all summer together, telling stories and building sandcastles and singing songs. Their relationship is a childhood dream.

 

_2\. Boy meets woman; or rather, woman meets boy_

Carlotta Giudicelli receives flowers from such a vast number of admirers, she would never have noticed the bouquet marked “Raoul, le Vicomte de Chagny”, if it were not pointed out to her by Sorelli, who laughs and laughs.

“You know he is quite enamored with you,” she says.

“Many are.”

“He’s very unlike his brother. Philippe would love for him to get a lover—one reason he keeps bringing him here, not that he doesn’t like it—and who does he fall for? You!”

Carlotta frowns at how much this seems to amuse Sorelli. “Well, what is so rare about that?”

“Oh, nothing. Only that I know you’ll never look at him, and Philippe knows too, he’s dreadfully frustrated. Even Raoul knows, but the poor boy can’t help it. So he sighs and moans. I’m sure he’ll get over it, eventually. Philippe is looking into ballet girls…”

Carlotta feels very much as if Sorelli and her beau are attempting to poach her game. A day later she sends a note to the de Chagny manor, requesting that Raoul attend the next show, and that afterward, he come back to her rooms for a private word.

Needless to say, the boy is thrilled. He is also about as flustered as Sorelli described him, but it is oddly charming. Carlotta graciously accepts his compliments; he offers her nothing more. For a few weeks he continues to come back to her rooms. Then one night she makes a suggestion: he might, perhaps, take her to a party.

He is taken aback. “You want to go with me? Surely there are other men who would love to escort you.”

“Do you not want to be my escort?”

“No, no… of course, I’d be honored…” He flushes bright red.

Carlotta thinks he’s pretty cute.

 

_3\. Prima donna meets chorus girl._

Christine Daae arrives at the Opera Populaire during the summer, when Raoul is off in the countryside with the rest of his family. Carlotta is restless. Not that she doesn’t have other loves—some Raoul knows about, some he doesn’t—but she has become rather accustomed to having him around to attend on her. She finds she wants a new distraction.

Daae is a distraction, certainly enough. She is young and pretty and a far better singer than she ought to be, being so new. Carlotta takes her aside and offers her private lessons, if she wants them. At first she says she couldn’t possibly bother Carlotta for such a thing, but when Carlotta persists, she relents.

She is not as easily flattered as Raoul, or as easily courted, but she is still susceptible. She is, Carlotta slowly realizes, a sad girl, and very lonely, even in the bustling Opera Populaire. Carlotta offers her company. A listening ear. She strokes Christine’s back, she kisses her forehead.

She is surprised when one evening, at the end of a lesson, Christine kisses her on the lips. She had thought it might take longer—or, perhaps, might never happen at all. But she has been wrong before.

(The Angel of Music is disgusted by these happenings. He thought for a moment this new chorus girl might be worth his taking a hand in her tutelage, but no. Anyone who believes Carlotta Giudicelli is the real deal is not worth his time and attention. He retreats back into his tunnels, seeking out other ways to pass the time.)

 

One day she is kissing Christine after a show when her door opens without a knock—at least a knock she heard—and there is Raoul, staring in at them. Apparently back from his trip in the country at last. He turns bright red when Carlotta meets his eyes (Christine still in her arms, not yet alerted) and begins to back away. But Christine turns, sensing something wrong, and sees him too, and he freezes.

Carlotta sniffs. She’s not going to apologize. She’s never acted as if Raoul had any sort of claim on her fidelity, so if he thinks…

“Christine,” Raoul breathes.

Christine’s brow furrows. “Is… are you…”

“It’s me!” Raoul exclaims. “Raoul, remember? The boy who ran into the sea after your red scarf!”

Carlotta feels as if she’s missing something, especially when Christine practically leaps out of her arms and throws herself on Raoul, perfectly delighted to see him. Not at all concerned about the violation of privacy or what he might think, apparently, or at all concerned about hurting her lover’s feelings. Nor does Raoul seem to feel any compunction about embracing a girl he just saw in the arms of not only a notorious opera house whore, but the woman he’s supposedly in love with.

She crosses her arms.

“I saw you onstage,” Raoul is saying, “you were amazing! Incredible!”

“Oh, Raoul. You can’t possibly have heard me through all those other voices. I was just in the choir.” Christine shakes her head indulgently. Indulgently! As if she and Raoul have some sort of intimacy, and Raoul is her pet whom she pampers, which he isn’t, he can’t be, because Raoul is Carlotta’s pet. _Carlotta’s_.

“We must go down to dinner. I’ll give you ten minutes—I’ll tell Philippe and get the horses—you too, Carlotta.” And with that, and a quickly blown kiss, Raoul is off.

“Well,” Carlotta says in the silence he left behind. “I never.” As in, she has never seen Raoul act, of all things, imperious towards her. The nerve!

“Good old Raoul,” Christine says. “He really is such a darling. But I can’t believe… well, I guess of course he would go here. All the fashionable families do. Still, I never thought I’d meet him again.”

She is blushing. This is a reaction Carlotta pulls from her very rarely. It is rather sweet, even if someone else has caused it.

“Can we go to dinner, Carlotta?” she asks.

And since someone has finally asked her, Carlotta relents and agrees.

 

When Christine and Raoul get married two years later, Carlotta is a bridesmaid—Meg Giry being the maid of honor as Christine’s best friend. There are some people who laugh at Carlotta being any sort of maid, but she’s not married, so technically it is allowed.

“This is what you get for loving people who are younger than you,” Sorelli says at the reception, shaking her head. “No steadiness in their type. Especially Raoul.” She laughs. She has been laughing ever since Christine and Raoul’s engagement, when she’s not groaning over how much work it is to console Philippe’s utter despair over the unsuitable match. Laughing at Christine, Raoul, Philippe, and most of all Carlotta.

“I don’t see any reason they shouldn’t get married,” Carlotta says “Sour grapes from you, I think.”

Raoul and Christine have promised her that she may come to stay at their townhouse or their country house whenever she chooses. And Raoul does not object to Christine continuing as a singer, and he intends to continue attending the opera himself. So it is not such a large change, she supposes. Though she does think it a little reckless of them.

She herself has no intention of marrying until she is very very old, and she has saved the position of husband for Piangi. He is not aware of this yet, but he will be eventually.

“It’s a great marriage,” she continues. “I am, of course, somewhat the architect, seeing as how I facilitated their reunion, and was a great encourager of their relationship…”

Sorelli snorts. “That’s one way to put it.”

Carlotta glares at her.

“Admit it, you have a few sour grapes yourself. They won’t be wanting you tonight, and then they’ll be on their honeymoon, and then there may even be children…”

“As if I would ever want children.” Carlotta crosses her arms.

Sorelli sighs. “I’m sorry, my dear, I’m being far too hard on you, aren’t I? Well, they still love you very much, of course. But you’ve been too busy with them anyhow. Now you ought to pay some old friends more attention for a while… you might start with me, for example.” She smiles winningly.

Carlotta says, “I might. Though you don’t deserve it, little minx.”

And Sorelli goes back to laughing.

 

Raoul and Christine de Chagny do have Carlotta stay in their house quite often. When asked, she says she always appreciates the invitation; they have a good cook, and a large and luxurious guest room. In fact, she is not as well acquainted with the guest room as she would have some believe. But that is her own business.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has like no plot but I just like the idea of Carlotta having her separate casual affairs going with Raoul and Christine and then being like "wait these two know each other?"  
> Also I wanted to write something for the POTO Rarer Pairs Contest so yes this is also for that.


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